


When Dreams Seem All Too Real

by LinuxScouser



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2005-12-11
Updated: 2005-12-11
Packaged: 2017-12-07 02:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 19,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinuxScouser/pseuds/LinuxScouser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle with the third piece of Shabranigdu, Lina and Gourry are still travelling together, enjoying the foods of the land and treasures of bandits. But when Lina is poisoned by a mysterious mazoku, Gourry has to find a cure before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers and don't claim to have created it or any of the characters.

Lina and Gourry were silent as they walked along the beaten track towards the next city. There was an uncomfortable silence between the pair as they continued. Gourry was just beside Lina as usual. Gourry occasionally looked down towards the diminutive sorceress with a look of worry in his blue eyes. Meanwhile Lina looked determined and slightly spiteful as she marched on with even more vigour.

"Maybe we should stop and rest for a bit." Gourry said nervously.

Lina just seemed to ignore the swordsman and continued walking.

"Lina, we should stop. You're…"

"SHUT IT GOURRY!" Lina spat back harshly and continued walking.

Gourry froze in mid-step as he looked on at Lina marching on.

A couple of hours earlier, Gourry was locked in battle. He was sword to sword with the last man of a group of mercenaries who had been tracking them for the past couple of days. It seems finally another of the mazoku lords had set a plan in action, and their first plan of action was to eliminate Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev, so there would be no trouble for them in the later stages of their plan.

The mazoku underlings had been sent to fulfil their duty and their first plan of action was to send this particular group of mercenaries after them. The days of pursuit had worn the sorceress and swordsman down a little. However they were still as effective as ever and they had dealt with most of the mercenaries the second they caught up.

"GYYYAAAHHHHH!" Gourry yelled as he broke the sword lock and went onto the attack, whilst the leader had to go on the defensive, doing his best to keep up with the blur of sword strikes. Lina meanwhile had finished with her share of the fight and looked to Gourry.

Suddenly a mazoku phased into the physical world behind Lina. She sensed it the second it happened and quickly chanted as she darted to the side. She just missed the heat of the plasma burst and continued chanting. Then suddenly she screamed and jumped straight for the mazoku.

"RAGNA BLADE!" She yelled, as the black massless void of energy shot forth in her hand, sparkling with golden energy. She'd grown in experience since the third rising of Shabranigdu and was finding that she needed less and less time to chant her spells. However it still wasn't quick enough.

She struck down hard with the blade and watched it rip through he shoulder and body of the mazoku, but simultaneously she felt the sharp pain in her neck. She lost control of the blade and it disappeared but it was still enough to eradicate the mazoku.

She slumped to the floor and brought a hand to her neck, where she felt a dart protruding. Gourry used the commotion and lack of concentration to defeat the final opponent, but seeing Lina down; he panicked and ran straight towards her. He knelt down beside her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Lina? Lina? Are you ok?" He asked seeing the dart.

Lina pulled the dart out immediately and winced.

"I…think so…" She responded unconvincingly.

"What is it, Lina?" The blonde man asked, looking at the strange dart. It was unlike any he had seen before. Infact it looked like it was made of human bone.

Lina looked closer at the dart and closer to the tip. Then suddenly the information shot through her like lightning. The books she read through all opened up, revealing the knowledge she needed to work out what it was. Her mind filled with images of the mazoku who had attacked her. She suddenly felt dread run through her, and for the first time she felt herself getting cold. She shivered.

Gourry sensed it immediately. "Tell me Lina, you're scaring me now. What's going on?"

Lina slowly looked up at Gourry, and Gourry read it in her eyes immediately. She didn't need to tell him, but she had to just to confirm it. "I'm dying…"


	2. Chapter 2

Gourry looked down at the ground as Lina continued walking ahead. He felt pained inside but he didn't want to show it to her because she'd just get angry. Yeah, he was doing such a good job of that already, wasn't he! He then starting running to catch up with her and when he finally did, he just walked back alongside her. He glanced over to look at her face, already it was paling, and she was breathing a little harshly. She was already starting to show the signs, this was too soon…

_Back to earlier._

"What do you mean dying? How can you be dying Lina! It's just a dart!" Gourry responded frantically.

Meanwhile Lina just dropped the dart and sighed. She still felt so young and really she was, now in her early 20's.

"The dart was poisoned, Gourry. I recognised that mazoku and the dart in books. He's known to kill by using poisoned darts made of human bone." Lina replied flatly.

"Then we get an antidote. It's as simple as that. Find the antidote and you'll be fine. We just have to get to the city, and find a healer. They'll sort it out! I know they will." Gourry answered back in desperation.

Lina just shook her head in a negative response.

"It's not that simple. There's been no record of any antidote that will work against it."

"Then I'll find one! Lina! There has to be a way to stop this." Lina just smiled softly at Gourry.

Momentarily she lost her mask, but quickly brought it back up again. She stood up and started walking.

"As if you could find anything with that jellyfish brain of yours!" Lina bit her tongue then. She sounded harsher than she meant to, but she was dying. Normally she'd be happy to work it out. But she remembered that book well, and she knew that it was hopeless.

Gourry picked up the dart and placed it in a protective pouch and followed Lina. He figured that it would be useful to use later as help. Someone else should be able to recognise the dart, and then know that there was an antidote. He could see Lina was willing to give up so easily but he was refusing to give up on her. He was her protector and so it was his job to find out how to protect from everything, that included death.


	3. Chapter 3

Lina and Gourry entered Zelforia, a small city on the outskirts of Zefilia. They entered the nearest inn and quickly rented a room. At that point Lina and Gourry parted ways. Lina had gone to the room to rest whilst Gourry went out into the city in search of what he needed.

Gourry walked around, definitely looking like a stranger but he wasn't concerned, especially when he found what he was looking for. He entered the small building and spoke to a middle-aged woman.

"Are you the shrine maiden here?" Gourry asked politely.

"Yes I am sir." She responded shyly. "How can I help you?"

Gourry pulled out the dart he picked up and began explaining everything he remembered Lina telling him, which for once was everything because he knew it was important, and it was Lina's life at stake.

"So you have to tell me, how I can help cure her. There just has to be something." Gourry pleaded.

"I'm sorry but I can't help you. There is someone who can." She went over to a table and pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote something down. She then returned to Gourry and handed him the piece of paper.

"Go to this address. He will be able to help you more than I can. His name is Gorthar."

"Thank you so very much. I'm grateful for your help."

Gourry then quickly made his leave, and followed the directions till he reached the place that matched the address. He looked up at the building and it caused a nervous chill to run up his spine. It was gothic in design and looked just plain scary. Gourry stepped up to the door, and knocked the giant doorknocker and waited patiently.

Moments later the door creaked open, with a smartly dressed elderly man just behind it.

"What can I do for you?" The man spoke quietly.

"I'm looking for Gorthar. A shrine maiden sent me here after I asked for help over a friend who was poisoned…with this dart." Gourry held out the dart. "I need his help." The man's eyes widened half in horror, but half in fascination.

"Please enter young man. I am Gorthar."

Gourry did as he was told and walked in, the door shutting behind him.

Gourry looked about him. It was obvious to him that this man was very wealthy, with fine paintings and decorations filling the room around him. He then followed Gorthar through into a study and sat where he was told.

"So can you help me?" Gourry asked bluntly.

"Directly, no. But I can help you find a way to help this friend of yours. But it's not going to be easy." Gorthar replied as he studied the dart.

"It doesn't have to be easy. There only has to be a way and I'll do it." Gourry stated defiantly.

"Very well then. You need to kill the mazoku who did this. Then you need to take his blood and mix it in a special concoction that the victim needs to drink. That's the easy part. The tough part is surviving the trials to reach him. People have died trying to pass them."

Gourry looked closely at the man as he spoke. "Where is it?" He said flatly.

The man smirked slightly in response. "In a shrine in the Kataart Mountains."

Gourry stood up immediately.

"Right then."

He turned to head for the door, but then froze stiff. Suddenly he dove to the side and something hit the door which he felt was hot. He looked and the door was gone. He turned back immediately.

"I guess your friend didn't tell you the mazoku was called Gorthar."

The man had changed into the mazoku from before. The mazokus appearance was very much similar to Seigrams, but his arms were different in that they seemed more like skeleton arms.

"YOU!" Gourry unsheathed his sword immediately. The glittering lavender blade that was the Blast Sword was held before him.

"Ah ah ah! Surely you should be protecting Ms. Inverse. She is alone after all."

Gourry could tell he was smirking in the darkness of the hood. He started thinking quickly and then suddenly it hit upon him.

"The shrine maiden…"


	4. Chapter 4

Lina was resting in the bed since she was completely worn out after the long walk and she knew why that was. She bit her lip and turned to her side grasping at the pillow under her head tightly. Why did this have to happen to her now? She thought she was finally going to get on with her life, adventuring across the land and find new things to discover. All of this save the world crap was supposed to be done and finished with. However they were being chased down by bandits and now she was poisoned by a mazoku. That particular mazoku was like a mercenary of the mazoku world. Paid to do jobs he was told to do by other mazokus who were either too scared to do things themselves or couldn't be bothered.

At least he wouldn't be bothering anyone else but it didn't help, she was still going to die. No more fighting off bandits and taking their treasure, no more fighting with Gourry over food…her Gourry. She closed her eyes and gripped tighter as she fought back against the sting in her eyes.

Her ears picked up when she heard a creak down the corridor. At least the poisoning hadn't taken her hearing away just yet. She sat up from the bed slowly, trying to do so quickly only caused her to ache with unbelievable pain throughout her body. She thought it might have been Gourry but the footsteps were too light to be his. She then watched as the doorknob began turning and quickly she hid behind the wardrobe. In walked a middle-aged woman, her clothing distinctly that of a shrine maiden, apart from the huge dagger in her hand. She seemed surprised that her target wasn't in the bed, unaware that she was about to get fireballed.

At least that was the plan before Lina fell to her knees and began coughing violently. The cough interrupted her chant and gave away her position. The shrine maiden's eyes widened as she turned to see Lina on the floor, but then quickly smirked as she grasped the blade tighter and lunged forward. Lina blocked the attack with her short sword but just barely, her body still being overwhelmed by the cough. Her weakened state forced her to fall back to the ground as the shrine maiden bared her weight down onto Lina.

Lina gritted her teeth as she tried to push back against her but it was useless, and she watched as the blade moved closer and closer, her own short sword moving dangerously close to her own neck. She closed her eyes tightly and wished for it to be quick. At least she wouldn't suffer the poisoning this way, but the pain never came.

The weight disappeared and she opened her eyes to see Gourry pinning the shrine woman against the wall with pure anger written across his face. However instead of doing anything, Gourry just gave the woman away to the authorities who took her away to be locked up. The commotion Gourry caused had brought people following him.

Earlier when Gourry realised the danger Lina was in, wasted no time in trying to get back to her. He charged in towards Gorthar and lashed out with the Blast Sword, cutting the mazokus arm off. He then dived to the side avoiding the retaliation attack, rolling along the ground and getting back to his feet, only to charge back towards Gorthar who left himself open. This time Gourry made the strike true, and cut straight through the body of the mazoku. He didn't stay to watch the result though, but knew that this time, the mazoku really was dead. He left the room and the mansion and started to run back to the inn, with desperation clear in his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

"LINA! LINA! You're not leaving me now!" Gourry yelled as he gripped onto the pale sorceress who lay on the floor, only to be dragged up unceremoniously by the blonde swordsman.

Lina opened her eyes slowly, blinking a little and smiled slightly as she saw the worry in Gourry's eyes.

"I'm going no where just yet Gourry…" She said a little too weakly for Gourry but it didn't matter because at least she was still with him.

He picked her up from the floor gently and placed her on the bed carefully. Pulling up a chair beside her bed, Gourry gripped onto Lina's gloved hand and held it tightly. He looked into her ruby red eyes and could see the life fading away slowly. He couldn't bear seeing her suffer and he knew that this was only going to get much worse for her.

"I'm not doing a very good job of protector am I…?" Gourry hung his head down, unable to look at her anymore.

"Stop being such an idiot. You've always done your best. There was nothing you could do." She responded as her eyes never left his bright blue eyes.

Those blue eyes which began to shine a little with sadness, but burned with resolve.

"Stop talking like this is over!"

She returned the fire.

"Yes it is Gourry! No one's recovered from this!"

"I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it. I'm not giving up on you; I won't give up on you because what am I supposed to do without you? I know it's stupid and it's selfish, but for once can't I be selfish." Lina's eyes softened a little and she smiled weakly.

"You're always selfish Gourry, every time you steal food from my plate." She returned.

Gourry looked back with a little smile, his eyes shining brighter.

"Only because you steal things from my plate." He grinned and Lina squeezed Gourry's hand a little tighter.

But then she suddenly started shivering, and tried to curl up slightly. However no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to fight off the cold. Gourry noticed this and knew he had to do something so he did the only thing he remembered to do when you needed to keep warm which he had been taught.

He joined Lina on the bed, and she widened her eyes quickly in surprise. She was about to protest and say all sorts of things like him being perverted or trying to take her innocence. However she didn't want to say those things anymore, and she quickly realised what he was doing.

Gourry took Lina's cape and used it to wrap it around Lina and himself. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body right up against his own. Lina felt her cheeks burn up as she looked up at Gourry who seemed to think nothing of it, he seemed like he was concentrating on something else. That something else was just keeping Lina warm.

His arms moved up to her back and he began rubbing his hands up and down her back. He was creating friction to help warm her up and used his own body heat to help too by being close to her. Lina could feel the results almost straight away and already she was much warmer. She admitted to herself that she liked being close to him like this. She liked the warmth he was giving her and it comforted her. It comforted her so much that she soon fell asleep.

Gourry hadn't noticed her dropping to sleep so when he noticed her eyes closed he panicked. He thought he lost her but he quickly realised that all was ok because he could feel her chest moving. She was still breathing and it meant she was still alive. He looked down at her, held closely in his arms and it was this that he wanted to do with Lina all the time. Just hold her and protect her from everything in the world. He moved his head down on top of hers and buried his face in her brown hair and closed his eyes. He clung onto her and just hoped that by doing so, he would be keeping her alive.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Gourry opened his eyes slowly as the sun shone into his eyes. He yawned widely and gripped onto the sleeping form of Lina who was still in his arms against him. He liked being with Lina like this and he knew he would like to do it more so. He snuggled next to Lina once more, taking comfort being next to her. He blinked for a second when he looked down at her and wondered why she wasn't moving.

"Lina? Wake up" he said softly as he shook her lightly. As he shook her though, she didn't seem to react and just flopped back and forth. Gourry felt the sudden dread through his body and began shaking her more firmly. "Lina? Lina? Wake up, Lina! This isn't funny anymore! WAKE UP! LINAAA!"

Tears started stinging his eyes as he kept shaking her, realising that her body was now cold and she wasn't even breathing anymore. He opened her eyes and he knew instantly that the life in her was gone. He'd lost her.

"LIINNNAAAA!" He screamed just as he sat up in his bed with sweat dripping off his brow. He clutched onto the sheets tightly and breathed heavily, feeling the tears streak down his face. He looked into the darkness before him as he tried to convince himself it was all just a dream. He reached out for the notebook on the table beside him and began writing the events down before they faded into the back of his mind. This was the seventh night in a row he had the same dream. Glancing over to the clock beside the bed, it was 4 A.M. and he had to be up in a few hours for work. Groaning he fell back into the bed and drifted off to sleep as the nightmares disappeared from his mind.

Gourry woke up to hear the drilling sound of the alarm clock, reaching out with a clenched fist, he smashed down on it to quieten the blasted thing up. It fell to the floor with a resounding crash but he didn't care. He was tired from being interrupted in the middle of the night with another one of those stupid dreams that was pestering him recently. He wouldn't have remembered them had he not started to write them down.

Finally he fought himself to get out of the bed and he went off to his usual morning routine of a shower and breakfast. He sat alone in the small kitchen of his one bedroom apartment. He had taken the notebook with him as he tried to work out what the dream was. He got the idea that he cared about that woman greatly, and that her name was Lina. He cared so much that he felt like risking everything in the world to save her, but it just wasn't enough. As he reminded himself of the events, he felt the sadness creep through him once again, and began to wonder what it all meant.

"GYYAAAHHH!" The blonde man yelled as he swung an axe through the air, cutting hard into the tree. He repeated the action a couple of times until finally the tree no longer had support and collapsed to the ground.

"Hey Gourry! Slow it down will ya! There won't be anymore trees left!" Gourry turned his head to a tall slim black-haired man with an unlit cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry boss, I guess I got carried away." Gourry replied, then bending down to pick up the tree and carry it over to the store. It was that time of year again for Christmas and Gourry was working at a small grocery store in the centre of town. They had drove to the outskirts to cut down a few trees to sell at the store, and Gourry had already cut down a fair few and lugged them into the truck.

"That'll do for today then, let's get back to the store." The boss shouted as he just finished cutting down his last tree and dragged it over to the truck, where Gourry helped him put it into the back of the truck. Both threw their axes into the back of the truck and then jumped into the truck, and began heading back to the store.

Gourry sat back into the seat and yawned again looking out the window as they headed back to the store.

"You have another bad dream, Gourry?"

"Yeah, woke me up in the middle of the night."

"You should see someone about that, it's affecting your sleep, and I don't want you sleeping in the store! It got robbed last time you did that!"

"Sorry boss. I promise it won't happen again."

Gourry sighed a little as he was forced to remember the store getting robbed. He didn't mean it too but it was the first time he had that dream and it really scared him. It scared him so much that he was unable to get back to sleep and so ended up falling asleep during the day.

They returned to the store with the boss heading into the store opening the place up and setting things up on the inside whilst Gourry took the trees and set them up on display on the outside. He then took the sign out and placed it beside the trees, stating the cost for them and mentioning to customers that they had to come in and ask for the tree they wanted. The trees were tied up of course, to stop anyone coming along and taking them without paying.

"All done, boss." Gourry stretched out as he headed into the store while the boss was finishing things up in the store.

"Ok, I'll leave you in charge of the place, I need to pick up a few more things and drop off a few deliveries. Don't fall asleep on me now ok?"

Gourry shook his head and grumbled, "Of course I won't boss…"

The boss then left the shop and headed back out in the truck, leaving Gourry on his own to look after the store. He sat down behind the counter and picked up one of the newspapers and started to read it. It didn't take long for him to get bored and instead he just flicked through it, looking at some of the pictures. He was never much interested in what the greedy politicians were up to, or that the latest fashionable celebrity was suprising pregnant.

The door rang as a sign that a customer had entered and Gourry perked up to see a recognisable face.

"Morning Mrs. Palmer." Gourry smiled, as he greeted the elderly woman who slowly made her way in.

"Good morning to you too, Gourry. Has Jeffrey left you alone again?"

"Yeah, he's just headed out for a few things."

"Ahh, becoming all responsible now?"

Gourry just blushed a little as he reached down and pulled up a bag of a few various items.

"Here is your usual Mrs. Palmer." He said as he passed the bag over to her, just as he heard the bell ring, telling him another person had come in. He glanced over and noticed it was some kid with a hoodie, so he kept his eye on him, knowing that he was likely up to no good. He then glanced back to the elderly lady as she passed him some money. He opened up the till and placed the money in, sorting out the change but kept his eyes on the hooded kid.

His eyes caught the sudden movement of an arm reaching out and grabbing something, before hiding it again beneath the hoodie. Gourry's eyes narrowed momentarily before giving the change back to the elderly woman with a smile.

"Gourry…this isn't the right change."

Gourry blinked and then smiled apologetically. "Sorry Mrs. Palmer, you know what I'm like with math!" He then reached in to the till to give her more change but he was stopped.

"No, you gave me too much." She then handed a few coins back where Gourry blushed and took them, placing them back in the till.

"Thanks."

"That's ok Gourry, but be more careful next time."

"I will, see you next week Mrs. Palmer."

"Bye Gourry."

She then left the store, where the hooded kid was about to follow, but was stopped in his tracks. Gourry had a tight grip on his wrist and coughed a little.

"Are you going to pay for all that." He then reached out, pulling at the hoodie where lots of sweets and various foods fell to the floor. He then pulled the hood down, only to be greeted with long brown hair and ruby red eyes which glared at him. Gourry blinked as he suddenly felt familiarity about the person, who was actually a girl. He was surprised more when he got a vicious kick to the shin, forcing him to let go of the girl. The girl then left the store and ran away as fast as she could, Gourry left hopping on one foot whilst holding his shin.

"Why do I know that girl?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey Gourry, you should go home. Take the rest of the day off."

Gourry looked up from the magazine he was reading, if you call reading just looking at the pictures. Even then he wasn't really paying attention because he was too busy trying to work out where he recognised that girl from. He felt strongly about her, like he should know her as someone close but that was impossible because he had never met her before.

"What's wrong?" Gourry answered the boss of the grocery store.

"You are. You don't look well and you're mind is somewhere else. You should take the day off, maybe a week until you feel better."

"But…"

"Just go Gourry."

H sighed a little and stood up, taking his things and left to return to his apartment. On returning he sat down on the couch and sighed a little, putting his hands on the top of his head, looking at the blank screen of the TV. He couldn't work out what was wrong with him, and why was that girl affecting him so much. However he didn't have much time because he had a practice session coming up so he had to gather his things together and get ready. He took a shower, prepared himself some dinner and soon he was off.

"Gourry! GOURRY!"

Gourry blinked as he raised his mask and turned towards the instructor, who then motioned to come to him. He did so, wondering if he had done something wrong.

"Sorry sensei, my forehand strike wasn't that good, but my mind's just a bit confused."

"Oh don't worry about that Gourry, you're fine. You're an excellent student. But you see that's the problem. You're so good there is nothing more I can teach you. And well you're also so good that you're putting my other students off from coming and each week I lose more and more. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"But sensei!"

"Please Gourry; you're just wasting your time here now. If you want to learn more, maybe you can take up kendo, that's similar to sword-fighting and you'll learn some new techniques too which could compliment what you've learnt."

Gourry looked down, taking the mask off his head and wiping his brow with his sleeve. Looking down at the wooden practice sword he held in his hand. He'd never found much to be good at but somehow he was drawn to sword-fighting and picked it up really quickly. He also enjoyed it and it helped take his mind off things, like being picked off for not being smart or being too tall, and having long hair.

He was actually punished for beating up those same bullies with his newly learnt sword skills, using his training sword, and gave those bullies a thing or two to learn about. He might have got in trouble and banned from sword-fighting for a time, but he was eventually allowed back and he never had trouble with those bullies since. Only today his mind was still on that girl and now he wasn't allowed to do the one thing he enjoyed anymore. He left silently, packing his things together and placed the wooden sword last into the bag.

He walked through the light lit streets of the small town and looked up at the stars that were so much clearer than in the city. He felt like things were falling apart recently, with his nightmares disrupting his sleep, not being able to do sword-fighting anymore, and the troubles he was having with his job. He wondered what his purpose in this life was anymore, wondering if he was being punished for something in a past life, not that he believed in that sort of thing.

"Leave me alone you third-rate thief!" Gourry blinked and turned left sharply to where he heard the voice. He looked down the alleyway and noticed three men surrounding a girl who was backed up against a wall. Realising the situation he gritted his teeth and took the training sword out of his bag before dropping the bag to the floor.

"I said back off, or I promise you'll regret it." The girl stated defiantly.

"Not until you give us our money back you little bitch!" growled the man in response.

Gourry wasn't pleased with that and charged towards the three men in an instant. They didn't even know what hit them until it was too late. With a well aimed blow he attacked the man closest to the girl, striking him hard on the neck which knocked him out instantly. The other men either side of him gasped but Gourry didn't hesitate. He threw his elbow hard against the man's nose, breaking it and forcing blood to gush out of it. Then re-gripping the sword, he struck it hard against the last man's stomach, forcing him to double over, and then he struck his head with a swift kick, leaving all three men collapsed on the ground.

I turned to the girl and blinked when I realised who it was.

"You…" She blinked a little in surprise.

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're saying."

"I didn't say you stole anything. Well you stole from my store, but that's not what I mean. Or is it?" He blinked now as he confused himself. The brunette haired girl with ruby red eyes just looked up at the strange tall guy, wondering what planet he was from and decided to take the opportunity to leave. Gourry realised what she was doing though and took a hold of her before she got far, pulling her back infront of him.

"Hey let me go!"

"Why did you steal from those guys?" She just rolled her eyes a little.

"I only stole from them because they stole from others.

"Why do you need to steal though? Don't you live at home with your parents?"

"Well first of all I'm 18 thank you very much, and I don't live with my parents because they kicked me out."

Gourry blinked a little in surprise, not really believing her but decided to go along with it.

"Well you can stay with me then, I'm not leaving you out here in the cold, and you need somewhere warm to stay."

"I'm not staying with a weirdo like you!"

"Would you rather stay out here where these guys could get to you in the cold?"

She looked at him and hmmphed a little like it didn't matter but he could tell that she was seriously thinking of the offer. She then began walking as Gourry caught up alongside her.

"I could have taken those guys out myself."

"Of course you could."

"Damn right, because I'm the beautiful genius, Lina Inverse!"


	8. Chapter 8

They both entered the apartment, where Lina busted in before Gourry and acted like the apartment was her own. Gourry dropped his bag by the door and closed the door behind him as he watched Lina walk around the main room, taking a look around. He stared at the girl for a moment as she continued looking; the name now was familiar to him as well as the way she looked. It frustrated him to think he knew this girl somehow, but he couldn't remember where from.

Shaking his head a little, he went pass the girl who flopped herself down onto the couch, turning the TV on and flicking through the channels.

"You must be hungry. Want something to eat?"

"Sure thing. Hey! No cable?"

Gourry headed into the kitchen which connected to the main room and he began putting things together, turning on the oven and started cooking straight away.

"I'm not buying all those channels when I'm never going to watch them all."

"Wow, you're pretty sheltered then aren't you?"

Gourry raised an eyebrow as he continued cooking.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh! Um…nothing. Don't worry about it. Hey that smells great."

Lina got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen where Gourry was beginning to place some of the food on some plates. Lina sat down at the table, grabbing the knife and fork and looking hungrily at the food. The second Gourry placed the food down on the table, Lina was devouring it like air.

Watching on, Gourry realised that she was getting through the food pretty quickly and needed to cook more, so he kept going. He placed more and more food on her plate and she kept eating and eating, suprising the hell out of Gourry. He was beginning to wonder how she managed to look so skinny but have an appetite to nearly match his own.

After some time, Lina had enough food and so Gourry could finally stop cooking. He pulled a chair up and sat down opposite Lina, just glad to be off his feet for a moment.

"I never knew I would meet someone with an appetite as big as mine."

Ungracefully, Lina burped and patted her now well-fed stomach, leaning back on the chair.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it's suprising considering you're pretty much skin and bones and really flat-chested."

"What did you say?"

Lina glared and within split-seconds had leapt over the table, tackling Gourry off the chair and throttled him on the ground. Lina had a dangerous look on his eyes whilst Gourry had nothing but surprise in his.

"I AM NOT FLAT! HEAR ME?"

Gourry nodded frantically since he had no air to speak with. However something seemed to have freaked Lina out because she stopped throttling Gourry. She looked down at him, the dangerous look gone and instead she looked as though she had seen a ghost. She closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head, shaking the strange thoughts away from her mind.

Moments later they were sat back down at the table, Lina dusting herself off and Gourry rubbing his neck which still had imprints of Lina's hands on it. Then when he gathered himself together he looked over at Lina.

"So I know you're lying. Firstly you're not 18 and I'm pretty sure you weren't kicked out of your parent's home."

Gourry spoke calmly and his statement had surprised Lina. Then realising she was busted she looked down and spoke quietly.

"Fine. I'm not 18. I'm 16 and I'm telling the truth. I know I still look young for that age but that's just the way I'm built. I didn't get kicked out from my home either. I ran away because I didn't want to stay anymore. I was tired of being stuck in one place and I wanted to travel the world."

"So why are you on the streets, stealing things?"

"Well I quickly realised that to travel the world, you need money and being 16, I don't have any savings. I got stuck in this town and have been saving up to leave. The money I took from those guys should really help me."

"It's a dangerous way to live though. You cross the wrong people and they'll be after you, wanting to kill you, they don't care if you're 16 or a girl."

"I said I can handle myself!"

Lina then reached into the sleeve of her top and pulled out an 8 inch dagger which snapped open. Gourry's eyes widened a little seeing the blade in her hands.

"Don't worry; it's just to protect myself. If anyone tries to attack me I can just…hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Gourry had shot out of the chair and was behind Lina before she realised it. He grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back and grabbed the hand holding the blade and placed it just by her neck.

"Or someone could come along and use that thing against you. You have no idea how to use it, and you shouldn't be alone on the streets because you'll end up dead!"

Lina shrugged Gourry off, pulling away from him and stood up with her back to the fridge-freezer.

"Well I'm not going back home if that's what you're suggesting. I can handle myself perfectly fine! So screw you!"

Lina turned and headed for the door but was stopped and dragged back, then pinned against the wall.

"You are not going out there alone. You can stay here for the night and if you really insist on leaving tomorrow, then I'm going with you. You need someone to protect you and so I'm going to be the one to do that."

Lina glared up at the blonde man and they stayed like that for sometime. Gourry could tell she was thinking things through, but taking a bit more time with it this time compared to before. Eventually she came up with her answer.

"Fine then. I guess I could use the help."

"Good, well I think you should go to bed now."

"Who do you think you are? My dad?"

"No. Your protector."


	9. Chapter 9

Gourry watched Lina move to the couch and grab a couple of blankets and he blinked in confusion. He walked over to her and looked down at her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Going to bed? You told me to."

"You're not sleeping here. You're sleeping in my bed."

Lina sat up immediately and glared at Gourry.

"I'm not sleeping with you!"

Gourry almost fell over with surprise and just about managed to compose himself. He put his hands out infront of him and waved them a little frantically.

"I didn't mean that. You're sleeping in my bed and I'm going to sleep here. I refuse to sleep in a bed knowing a woman is sleeping on a couch. So you should take the bed."

Lina blinked at him in confusion and then slowly a small smile crept across her face.

"You really are from another world, aren't you!"

"No." Gourry replied very seriously, causing Lina to face vault into the floor.

Lina obliged and went into Gourry's bedroom and set herself up to get ready for bed. Meanwhile Gourry tidied up most of the mess from Lina's feeding. Then once cleaned up Gourry sat down on the couch and glanced to his bedroom where Lina was now fast asleep. He turned back and leaned back into the couch and sighed.

He couldn't really believe what he put himself into, but when he said it before it felt right. He didn't know the girl. He had never met her before but he felt a strong need to protect her, and he was willing to give up his life to do that. He would have to call in to work to say he was quitting, and tell the landlord he no longer wanted to rent the apartment.

He really could mess up his entire life here, but something inside him told him that this was what he had to do. He looked up at the sword that was placed up on the wall and sighed slightly. His life was a whole mess up to this point anyway, and maybe giving it all up was the right thing to do. Maybe he was making it right, and that he now had a point to his life where before there was no meaning to it.

He grabbed the covers and set his feet up, and used the couch as a bed, placing the covers over himself. He looked at that sword until he felt himself growing so tired that he could no longer look at it anymore and he drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later his eyes snapped open when he heard a horrific scream. He grabbed the sword immediately and ran to his room and quickly turned the light on with his sword at the ready. Lina was sat up in the bed with tears streaming down her face, and her hair stuck to her face with all the perspiration.

Gourry put the sword down by the door and walked into the room, pulling up a chair beside the bed and sat down. He leaned over onto the bed and looked at Lina.

"Don't worry; it was just a bad dream. You're fine now." He said softly.

Lina didn't seem to react though, and she seemed extremely freaked out by something. Gourry reached out a hand and lightly took a hold of Lina's. It made her jump and her head snapped towards Gourry and her eyes suddenly softened. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I thought you were gone." She mumbled into his shoulder.

Gourry blinked in surprise by what she said, and wondered what she meant.

"I wasn't gone, Lina. I was on the couch the whole time."

"But Gorthar" She said a little panicked, pulling herself away from Gourry's arms.

"Gorthar?" Gourry replied in confusion. However suddenly something snapped into place. He grabbed the notebook on the table beside the bed and read over it. As he did so, his eyes widened and as he did so, it all began to freak him out.

"Lina… do you recognise this?"

Gourry handed the notebook to Lina and let her read it. The whole time he watched her expression slowly change, but the one thing that remained was the look of confusion.

"Gourry, how did you know this was what I dreamt about?"

"Because I had that same dream too."

The next morning, Lina and Gourry were sat on opposite ends of the table. They had decided to try and get some sleep and have breakfast before they began talking about that dream.

"It just seemed so real though. I've been having that dream for the past week and it's been stopping me from sleeping. It's been really scaring the hell out of me. I mean dreaming about your own death isn't something fun to do." Lina said as she sipped some coffee.

Gourry put the glass of orange juice down and scratched his head.

"I've been having the dream for a week too."

"It's weird too because I've only been in this town for a week as well."

Gourry blinked in surprise and wondered if that meant anything.

"I know it felt real, but what was all that stuff you did, like that really big black blade. I've never seen that happen in life.

"I think that was magic."

"I thought magic was just made up, or that stuff you do with cards."

"I don't know, I've always believed in magic. I've always wanted to be able to do it, but there isn't a book out there called 'Magic for Dummies', so I've never been able to learn it."

"But how do you know it even exists?"

"I don't know, just something I've felt inside for a long time. Hey Gourry, do you believe in reincarnation?"

"No, I don't know much about kings or queens."

"I said reincarnation! Not coronation! You idiot!"

"Well what's that?"

"Well when you die, some people believe that you are born again and live through life. Then the whole thing just goes over and over."

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well if it's true, then maybe these dreams are more than just dreams."

"You mean that those dreams were actually something that happened in a past life?"

"Exactly. C'mon Gourry, don't you get a feeling that all this is familiar. Look at your sword fighting. You saved me last night with those skills and from what I remember in that dream; you were pretty skilled at using your sword."

Gourry nodded slowly.

"Yeah, you were just as short tempered in that dream as you are now."

Lina sweatdropped but decided to just ignore the comment, and carry on with her thoughts.

"Maybe this whole reincarnation is true. What if we had these past lives as a sorceress and a swordsman. Maybe magic is real. If it all happened then, well there's no reason why it can't happen now."

"How do we know if it's true?"

"There might be a way to find out."


	10. Chapter 10

Gourry was sat down in a chair with his hands gripping tightly at the arms of the chair as it reclined back. He really didn't like the situation he was in but Lina was making fun of him for the way he was acting.

"What are you so worried about? It's not like you're going to die or anything!"

Gourry gave a slight glare towards Lina before the strange woman sat down next to him. They had spent the day travelling to the nearby city and found a hypnotist. Lina had told Gourry that people sometimes find out about their past lives by being hypnotised. Gourry had only seen the hypnotists who made people act like a chicken or make them look like idiots. So he wasn't too impressed with being the first one to have to go under.

The chair also reminded him of the dentist too which freaked him out a little but then the woman began talking to him, asking him to relax and pretty soon he found himself going under. He was aware of things but he just felt extremely calm. He was no longer worried about what might happen to him and the woman's voice seemed really soothing.

"I want you to go back to a really long time ago. Go as far back as you possibly can. Are you there?"

"Yes…"

"What do you see Gourry?"

"I see a woman."

"What does the woman look like?"

"She's gold. Her whole body is just gold. I feel like I don't recognise her, but at the same time I do."

"What do you mean?"

"The body, looks exactly like Lina. But I know it's not her, it's someone else. No! Don't go away!"

"What's happening now Gourry?"

"She's going away, up in the sky. She's leaving me behind and I don't want her to. I want her to come back. Lina! LINAA!"

In his mind he felt himself getting scared and worried, the images were so strong in his mind. It was as though he was actually there. He then found himself chasing her, jumping on the broken pieces of earth that were rising up in the sky. It felt like the world was ending but he didn't care about that because he wanted to get Lina back so badly.

"Where is she going, Gourry?"

"She's going up. There's a black…thing in the sky, I think she's going towards that. I'm not letting her go though. I'm chasing her and using everything that's breaking up around me to get to her. I care about her, I know I love her and I don't want to live without her so I'm risking it all to get her back."

He kept jumping and anything in his way he cut in half with his sword. Only the sword wasn't normal and instead was made of light. It grew and cut right through the rock that got in the way.

"Lina! LINNAAA!"

The woman snapped her fingers as she realised that things were getting a little out of hand. The snap of her fingers was almost like she was snapping him out of what happened. Gourry bolted upright in the chair and his eyes grew wide with terror.

"I have to get her back, she's leaving me and I know if she goes she's not coming back! Take me back!"

"Gourry! Gourry!"

Lina ran to Gourry's side and held him down doing her best to calm him down.

"It's ok Gourry, don't worry. It's over. That was in the past and whatever happened has already happened and there is nothing you can do about it."

She didn't know why but she wrapped her arms around him and tried to comfort him. The truth was that what he said had freaked her out a little, especially upon hearing herself being described.

She kept a hold of Gourry until she could feel that he had calmed down a little, and then she pulled away from him. The second she did that Gourry was out of the chair, as though the quicker he got away from it the better. He then sat down by Lina and kept his hands on his knees, looking down and gripping them slightly. The images were still haunting him and he still felt the urge to go back and get that woman back. That woman he somehow knew was Lina.

"I want to go under now." Lina said.

Gourry turned sharply in surprise.

"No you won't! I'm not letting you do that after what happened to me."

"I don't care; I need to find out if that really was me. I need to know because not only will it tell us if this past life is real, but I'll know what happened."

Gourry didn't look too certain but Lina didn't care and sat herself down in the chair like Gourry had, took a deep breath and then closed her eyes as the hypnotist started to put her under. The same routine occurred and then Lina was asked where she was.

"I'm in a void. I can't tell where anything is but I see Gourry. He looks relieved to see me and I know I'm relieved too. I hold onto him and I…I…"

"That's not the right place" Gourry interrupted and the hypnotist nodded, suggesting she went back and then asked what she saw then.

"I see him! I see Gourry down below and everything is falling apart. I can't do anything though. This isn't right! This feels wrong. Something is there in my mind and I know it shouldn't be there. Dammit, why can't I do anything? Gourry! Oh Gourry! I'm sorry! Gourry!"

The hypnotist snapped her fingers and Lina opened her eyes quickly but stayed down in the chair, just breathing deeply.

"I've never seen this before." The hypnotist said. "Never before have I seen two people recollect the same events from different perspectives."

Lina sat up slow and looked to Gourry who looked back towards her, and they both knew at that point that something had happened in the past and that these dreams had more to them then they first realised. However Lina put a hand to her head and rubbed it slightly. She felt as though she had a bit of a headache, but more to that, she felt like she brought something back with her. She felt a little bit of that thing inside her mind when she couldn't do anything. However she just shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing more than a headache and soon enough it would go away. First things first, she had to speak with Gourry alone.


	11. Chapter 11

Gourry sat down on the bed by the window whilst Lina sat down on the bed closer to the door. He looked towards her expectantly, wondering what it was she had to talk about. If he was being honest to himself, the things they had just been through really freaked him out. And now there was the thought that these strange visions that Lina and himself had shared were meaning enough to say they had a past life. The situation seemed too much for him really and he wondered if making that call that morning to give up his job and to stop renting the apartment was a good thing anymore. He'd pretty much given up his life for this girl only to walk into something he never thought possible.

Lina meanwhile was buzzing slightly from the visions. Her life up to that point was nothing to brag about and she always felt that she was meant for something much more meaningful. She tried her best to do that but she didn't know how and only ended up on the streets. Now she was given an opportunity, a starting point for which her life could now really start.

"Gourry, I need to learn magic." Lina stated bluntly

"Huh? Lina…I thought you said you couldn't find any books on magic."

"I know but, these visions are proof that I was able to use magic."

Gourry was uncomfortable with her bringing up the thoughts of those visions.

"How can you say that, Lina? They could just be dreams, they don't mean anything. There's no proof in that."

"You baka! Don't you remember? We had the same vision from different perspectives. We had exactly the same visions and the hypnotist said she had never seen that happen before. That's proof enough for me, along with the same dreams we had."

Gourry looked down at the ground. Lina sounded like she knew what she was talking about and he wasn't really going to argue with her about it. Unlike Lina, he was satisfied with his life to some point. He was making a living and getting by which was good enough for him really. He did have to admit that something felt slightly off but he paid no mind to it as usual and got on with things. When Lina came, he felt new confusion but admittedly something inside of him felt as though it had healed over.

"So where are we supposed to go then Lina? How are we meant to find information on something that for all we know has never been looked at or used for hundreds, maybe thousands of years?"

Lina frowned a little and she had to admit that finding such a thing would be difficult. She knew though that she had to find it. She had to find that information and learn how to use magic again as she had done in that past life. She saw Gourry's sword skills already and knew that was what he did in the past. So if he was able to do that, then she must be able to use magic if she can just learn it again like Gourry learnt his sword skills.

"I don't know where to look, but there just has to be something around that was long forgotten. It could have been taken to be some sort of historic book, maybe poetry because of the incantations for spells."

Gourry blinked.

"I remember hearing about an ancient book on display in the museum that was filled with old poems. Maybe that's your magic book?"

"Gourry. You better not be kidding me. Are you telling me the truth? Why would you know about such a thing?"

"Well I'm pretty certain; it was only because one of the other displays was an old sword with a blade that could be removed. It seemed interesting. The curators seem to believe that you could remove the blade and replace it with something else, so you could change the sword depending on what you wanted to do with it."

Lina jumped up from her bed and leapt into Gourry, giving him a bear tight hug and squealing in delight.

"Oh Gourry! You're the best ever! We have to get this book now!"

"You know it's a museum Lina, not a library."

"Of course I do, but when I'm able to cast magic, they'll be fine with me having taken it in the first place."

"I'm not too sure about that."

"Oh shut it Gourry. Don't go spoiling it for me."

She then let go of Gourry and lay back down on the bed, sighing softly.

"I'm going to finally learn magic!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Are you sure this is ok Lina?" Gourry asked as Lina dragged him towards the glass case containing the book.

"Of course it is! I'll even give it back when I'm done." She lied but Gourry was none the wiser.

They had stayed in the room for the night and decided to sleep and then come to the museum in the morning. After learning that mealtimes between them could be particularly violent after the fight over the food at breakfast, they went to the museum to work out the best way to take the book with the minimum of fuss. They had decided after taking a quick look around that it would be best to take it at night just after the museum closed.

However, they never left the museum so they didn't have to break in as they found a good hiding place in the tepee of an American Indian family at the Wild West exhibit. They stayed silent whilst the guards went round to check that everyone had left and then closed the place up. Lina at that point dragged Gourry out and tried to convince him that it would be all ok, but he still had his doubts until Lina told him she'd give the book back.

"Uhhh Lina? How are we supposed to get out of here with the book? We'd have to break out."

Lina stopped in mid-step, freezing and then sweat-dropping. She just realised that she hadn't thought out that part of the plan just yet. However she was happy with her quick thinking and turned immediately to face Gourry with a confident face.

"We'll just hide back in that tepee until the morning and then during the day we'll just leave and pretend as though we had just looked about for a bit before leaving."

"What about the book they'll see in your hand when they realise it's missing from the exhibit."

"Stop trying to ruin this for me!"

"I'm not trying to do that. I'm just trying to make sure we don't get into trouble."

Lina rubbed her head with impatience and threw the bag off her shoulder and towards Gourry's feet.

"Take a look in the bag."

Gourry picked up the bag and looked inside, then pulled out an old looking book.

"What's this?"

"That my friend is the dummy book that we're going to replace the real book with. It's exactly the same size and looks pretty much the same, so they will be none the wiser until we are far gone."

"Where did you get the book from?"

"I got it from the gift store, they're selling replicas and it's filled with information about the book, where it was found and stuff."

"Did you buy this, Lina?"

Lina rolled her eyes, and played the innocent card, holding her hands behind her back and rolling on the balls of her feet whilst whistling.

"Lina! You shouldn't have stolen it!"

"Hey you idiot! I'm technically not stealing it because I'm not leaving with it. The only book I'm taking is the real one and I've told you I'm going to give it back."

Gourry handed the bag back and crossed his arms.

"Ok then…"

"Thank you! Now, let's get the book."

She turned quickly and headed over to the glass case. She looked around it carefully, seeing if there were any traps or triggers for alarms but couldn't see any so she figured it best to just lift the glass case up and switch the books. She grabbed onto the sides of the case, and very carefully lifted the case into the air. She held her breath momentarily wondering if an alarm would go off. However nothing happened so she placed the case on the ground, switching the books and placing the case back on top. She then took the real book and placed it straight into her bag. She was only looking at it when she felt safe and far far away from this place.

"Ok Gourry, let's head back to the tepee. We might as well get some sleep before we leave, it might look suspicious if we look tired. Gourry? Gourry! What are you doing?"

Gourry had stopped and was looking at the case which contained the sword he had read about. He placed his hands on the glass case and looked at it closely, feeling drawn to it for some reason. He grabbed the long cylindrical case on his back and opened the top, revealing the sword that was placed on the wall of his old apartment.

"Sorry father. I know you're angry I took this sword but this other sword seems incredibly important. I know I need to have it but it means giving up this one. Please forgive me."

He pulled the glass case off and switched the swords and put the case back on then took a long look at the sword. He noticed the tiny pin in the handle and figured that must be what held the blade in place.

"YOU TWO! FREEZE!"

Both Gourry and Lina turned sharply towards the gathered security guards, all holding batons and were ready to use them.

"Hey! Hang on a second here. How did you know we were here?" Lina asked in shock.

"That's easy, we saw you on the security cameras and also you set of the silent alarms the second you stole the book and the sword."

Lina smacked the palm of her hand on her forehead, not believing her stupidity and realising she was blinded by her hunger for power to not realise how difficult it really was to steal something from a museum. However before she could say anything Gourry was moving.

He gripped the handle of his newly acquired sword and ran towards the guards who raised their batons in reaction. He was too quick for them though and easily avoided the baton strikes. He ducked and weaved amongst the security guards, and moved so quick that the guards couldn't even see where he was going. He then lashed out at them with the sheathed sword, and had knocked them all out within a few seconds. He then turned to Lina.

"Quick Lina, we have to get out of here before the police come." Gourry said sternly.

Lina nodded and quickly followed.


	13. Chapter 13

"I don't believe it! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Lina screeched in fury.

Gourry blinked in confusion having sat back down on the bed of the hotel room. They had returned from the museum, just thankful that they had escaped unscathed from the run in with the security guards and that they had no bother since. However something inside Gourry told him it would be a day or two until they started looking for them, wanting the book back.

"What's wrong Lina?" He asked, turning on the TV and flicking through the channels randomly, waiting for something to catch his eye.

"This book. It's really a stupid poetry book. There's no damn magic spells in it. It's useless!"

"Well if it was really a magic book, wouldn't they have worked that out when they got it?"

Lina's response to that was to throw the book at his head. It smacked him square on and sent him sprawling to the floor, with the book landing on top of him and a few of the pages falling out and floating to the floor beside him.

"I don't believe we just risked getting caught for some stupid poetry book. It's probably something written by some stupid old man who had nothing better to do!"

Gourry got back onto the bed and resumed flicking through the channels, until something did finally catch his eyes. He stopped and his eyes widened as he continued watching, his jaw opening out slightly.

"I mean what's so damn special about some old guy's poetry. That's not gonna help me learn magic! That stupid guy who's probably long dead has just nearly got me into trouble…Gourry? Are you even listening to me? What the hell are you gawking at? Not some stupid sitcom is it?"

Lina then walked over and sat on the bed beside Gourry to look at the television screen and soon she was staring at it, her mouth now opening.

"Our latest report is that of the murders which took place a couple of hours ago in the museum. We understand that several security guards were killed and some items had been taken from the museum." The news reporter stated, continuing the report.

"We have CCTV footage of the suspects and we advise anyone who sees the suspects to not become involved and just call the authorities."

At that point they began showing the CCTV footage and there on the screen was Lina and Gourry creeping about the place, taking the items and then being confronted by the guards. Then the footage cuts out and is left with static.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Lina stood up from the bed.

Immediately she turned to Gourry and pointed an accusatory finger towards him.

"You killed them? And now I'm in trouble because of it!"

Gourry blinked and just sat there.

"I didn't kill them Lina, you saw that. I didn't even unsheathe the sword. I just attacked them with the sheath on so I would knock them out, I didn't kill them Lina." Gourry replied.

"Then why are the reports saying they were murdered."

"I don't know, Lina."

"We have information stating that the guards were killed by a sword attack, most likely the tall blonde man who had just taken the sword." The reporter continued.

Lina glared immediately towards Gourry, but he was just staring at the screen, adamant that it wasn't him.

"The items stolen were an ancient poetry book, a sword with a removable blade and a prehistoric stone."

It was Gourry's turn to glare at Lina but she shook her head.

"I didn't take it Gourry, I only took the book."

"Well you seem to insist I murdered those men."

"Well if you didn't murder the men, and I believe you Gourry, because I was there, and I didn't steal that third item. Then that means that someone else was in that place and is trying to make us take the blame for it. The CCTV footage cut out then which makes me think they stopped it so they wouldn't be seen on the cameras. They then killed the guards and made it seem like we stole all three items and murdered those guys."

"What would they what with some old stone?"

"I dunno. Maybe to sell it for a lot of money. Or maybe for the same reasons I went to take some old book."

"Are you saying it's more than just some old stone then?"

"Maybe."

Gourry then stood up from the bed and began packing their things together and he was doing it in a hurry. Lina looked at him in confusion but Gourry wasn't paying attention. He also grabbed the old poetry book and stuffed it into the bag then quickly went to look out the window, down at the ground.

"Gourry? What are you doing?"

"I'm getting us the hell out of here. We're being charged with murder and so they're gonna be looking for us. They're going to find out pretty quickly that we're staying here, so I want to be gone before that happens."

"Why are you taking the book? You know we can't just go back and apologise for what happened then give the book back and it'll be all ok."

"I know Lina, I'm not that stupid! I'm just thinking if that old stone could be worth something, then maybe there's more to the book than you first realised. Now c'mon, we have to get out of here quick and try to stay low."

Lina nodded and stood up, gathering her things together quickly and then left, not really sure of where they were going to go.


	14. Chapter 14

Lina and Gourry had walked along the roadside pretty much throughout the whole night due mostly to Gourry's insistence that they kept moving. He was worried that if they didn't leave town quickly enough and make as big a distance as possible between them and the town, then they would be caught too quickly. He felt bad though because Lina hadn't got much sleep and so she was almost like the walking dead. He knew he had to do something soon but they couldn't rely on motels to support them. They would be seen and the police would be called to arrest them. So he knew he had to think of another way.

They walked through the small town and Gourry at that point noticed a camping shop.

"Perfect. Ok, Lina? I know you're tired but just pull your hood up for now and stay by this window. Make sure your face is well covered, ok?"

She nodded sleepily and did as she was told. Then Gourry went into the store and tried to get it over with as soon as possible. He looked about very quickly and found the best tent for them, and a couple of sleeping bags. He used the rest of the money he had and bought the items and before he could gain any more suspicious stares, he grabbed the items and left.

Without even saying anything he grabbed onto Lina's hand and dragged her along with him. Her feet dragged behind her and she nearly fell over but Gourry helped keep her balance.

"What's the rush Gourry?" She murmured sleepily.

"We just need to get out of this town soon; we've already stayed too long here. We need to get out into the countryside where it's quiet. If we stay here any longer, someone will spot us and we'll be in trouble."

Gourry then just kept walking with Lina, holding her a bit closer and more protectively because she seemed so fragile at that point and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. At that point he was actually considering handing himself in and taking the blame just so Lina wouldn't be in trouble. But he wasn't sure what was worse, Lina being in jail alone, or out in the world alone. Either way there wasn't much he could do to protect her except do his best to keep them out of sight.

Finally they reached the countryside on the outskirts of the town and noticed a forest. That would be a good cover so they headed straight for the forest. Then once they entered they found a small clearing and set up a camp. Gourry built the tent pretty quickly and set up the sleeping bags inside and then let Lina get in and get some rest. Meanwhile he started a fire because it was getting pretty cold, with it being winter and all.

He placed his hands over the fire and rubbed them together, feeling his fingers tingle as warmth crept back into them. He looked to the tent and watched Lina sleeping. He felt that only she was going to be able to solve it. He wasn't smart enough to work things out, he just knew how to get by and survive. So it was his job to protect Lina to the best of his abilities and she would be the one to try and work out how to make the authorities believe they were innocent. However he knew enough that it would involve this other person who stole the stone.

He looked at the sword that he had taken and unsheathed it slowly, looking at the blade. It wasn't in very good condition but he didn't really want to use it, not to kill anyway. He looked at the pin in the handle and decided to test it. For some reason he knew he had to sheath the blade, he guessed because if the blade was going to be removed, it might as well stay in the sheath. He then pulled the pin and heard a click, and then he pulled on the handle.

The handle came away but the blade stayed in the sheath. He looked at it curiously and wondered why anyone would want to have a sword where you could remove the blade. The idea of being able to change the blades made sense, but he thought wouldn't it be easier to just have different swords.

"You'd still need to carry all the blades around to be able to change them." He mumbled to himself quietly. "If someone was going to carry all those blades around well then they might as well carry all the different swords."

Suddenly he heard a snap and he turned his head sharply towards the sound of the noise. He put the handle back down into the sheath, placed the pin in and removed the sword within split seconds. It surprised him how quickly he was able to do it considering it was the first time, but it felt like he had done it all the time.

He looked carefully and noticed a pack of wolves had started to surround the camp. He bit his lip and quickly stood up with the blade held out infront of him, ready to protect Lina and himself. He watched as a group of five carefully closed in and he started to think what would be the best thing to do. He looked to the fire and an idea popped in.

He knelt down quickly and grabbed a broken branch. He then gathered some dried grass and leaves and did his best to wrap them around the top of the branch. At which point he put the end into the fire and produced a torch. He turned back to the wolves and then swung the torch at them, causing a couple to back up. However they just continued back towards him.

He swung the torch once more but as a couple jumped back, the others all decided to attack. He took a step back immediately and swung out with the sword, cutting deeply into one of the wolves which let out a whimper. Another he managed to hold off with the torch but the third had got through and bit into his leg. He gritted his teeth in pain and swung his sword at the wolf and sliced into it.

The one he had attacked with the torch was burnt slightly and the two others who were initially scared all ran away after seeing what happened to the other two. He bit his lip and hobbled over carefully back to the campfire and sat back down. He cursed at himself slightly for being caught off so easily and now he was hurt, but now he knew he had to sort it out now because he had to keep protecting Lina. He grabbed some spare cloth from his bag and pulled his trouser leg up, revealing the bite wound. He cleaned it off with some water and wrapped the cloth around his leg, tying it off tight.

He looked back to Lina who was sleeping peacefully. He thought she might have woken up but she must have been so worn out that she slept through it all. He hoped that when she did wake up, she would be feeling better and be willing to look through that book. Maybe there was more to the book than she first realised. What was on his mind the most though, was why those wolves had attacked him. He'd never heard of a wild pack of wolves to just attack like that, and he knew they were normally shy around humans. But now they attacked once, maybe they would end up attacking again.


	15. Chapter 15

Lina opened her eyes slowly and took a brief look around her. She realised she was in the tent and groaned slightly, also realising that the whole deal of them being suspected of murder was real and not just some bad dream. She sat up slowly and stretched out, letting out a small yawn and then took the poetry book from the bag. She crawled out of the tent and joined Gourry by the fire, none the wiser of the attack that happened earlier.

Gourry took some snacks out from the bag that they managed to gather from the hotel room before they left and handed a chocolate bar over to Lina whilst keeping the crisps to himself. He munched away and looked at Lina reading through the book carefully, whilst eating her chocolate bar slowly.

"So is there anything interesting in there Lina?"

"I don't know. I think so. It's tough to tell whether it's just some person's thoughts or really a clue on anything. The thing is that as I read it, I find myself feeling like I know what the person is writing about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well this one seems to talk about the rising of some terrible demon only to be destroyed by a white haired warrior who could wield a dark blade."

Gourry blinked a little at what she said.

"Anything else?"

"Umm, this one talks about the mystery of two monsters that used to go round and devour everything in their path leaving nothing in their wake."

"I would pretty much devour everything in my path at the moment." Gourry replied, patting his belly which rumbled in reaction.

"They just sound familiar but I've not finished yet."

"Well just do your best, ok?"

Gourry then placed a few more branches on the fire to heat it up and then found his head slumping forward. He'd not slept for awhile and now it was catching up with him. He figured that maybe he could close his eyes for a few moments. Just rest his eyes and it would be ok. If the wolves came back, he would know and Lina would tell him too.

"Gourry! Gourry! Wake up!" Lina shouted as she shook Gourry violently.

Gourry blinked his eyes open and then suddenly stood up with his sword ready.

"What is it?" He said sharply, quickly taking a view of the area and expecting to see the wolves.

"I know where to go! I know where we have to go so I can learn magic. It's all in here!"

Gourry smiled and patted the top of Lina's head and realised he must have dropped off for a couple of hours.

"So where do we have to go then."

"Seyruun."

Gourry's eyes widened suddenly in reaction and shook his head firmly.

"No way! We'll get caught the second we go in. That's a massive city and there'll be police swarming the place. We won't have a chance."

"We have to try Gourry. There's nothing else we can do. We have no clues on whoever framed us, and I don't think we will find any until I start learning magic. Something tells me that stone is linked to magic. I don't know how but it's just an instinct."

Gourry sighed a little and then finally nodded his head.

"Ok then. But we have to be careful. First of all we have to get there."

"That's easy." Lina smiled in reaction.

A few hours later they had returned to the road and walked back the way they came, back into the small town where they had gathered the camping equipment from.

"A bus station? But we don't have any money to get one ticket, never mind two." Gourry said a little disappointed.

"Who said we were gonna pay for it? Anyway, it's better than your idea of hitchhiking. Who knows who could pick us up and they could just end up driving us to some police station."

Gourry didn't look too happy at first but he decided to go along with it anyway realising there wasn't much else they could do. They headed straight to the bus station and found when the next bus was going to depart for Seyruun. Luckily they only had to wait for fifteen minutes. They then stayed back and watched as the people boarded the bus, and then when the driver went to the bathroom, they quickly went on and stayed near the back and out of view.

The bus then set off for the trip to Seyruun, which would take about a day. Gourry took the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep whilst Lina had taken a few guides to Seyruun and read through them, trying to figure out where the best place to look would be.

Seyruun was probably one of the largest cities in the world. It consisted of the old city which was treated as a tourist attraction and was based at the middle of the city. Then as time passed the city slowly grew outwards and so newer parts of the city were on the outskirts of the city. Lina figured that they would have to get to the centre where there used to be a library.

She hoped that the books she needed would be in the libraries. Of course the centre of the city was well looked after and basically all the items there were antiques and pretty much priceless. That meant getting to them would be difficult but they would have to find a way.

Gourry's sleep was filled with dreams. All those dreams seemed to be similar to that one dream that started off this whole mess. They seemed to all be about the travels that he had with Lina, and they felt so real. He felt that they weren't dreams at all and that he was actually living them out.

He noted the amount of times they fought with bandits and he knew it was something Lina loved doing. He realised that it was also their source of income at that time. He also noticed Lina's use of spells. There were so many different ones and he wondered how she was even supposed to be able to remember them all. He noted in some parts he had one sword, and in other parts he had a different one. One was the one with the glittering lavender blade that seemed to be able to slash through anything. The other he hadn't seen much of, and appeared to just be a normal blade but he knew it reminded him of something.

He woke up with a startle and noticed Lina was tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms out and noticed the bus wasn't moving.

"What's up Lina?"

"We've stopped for a break; it might be an idea to get some food."

"I don't have any money left, though."

"It's ok; I've got a bit left. My treat. But you owe me!"

They got off the bus and entered the restaurant and ordered as cheaply as possible despite being so hungry. They knew they had to make the money last and so they had to make do. As they ate, Lina began to describe the situation to Gourry, and told him about where she thought the best place to find magic would be, but explained that of course it wouldn't be easy.

"Hey, you know I have an auntie who lives not far from Old Seyruun."

Lina blinked at the blonde man. Then slowly the anger boiled up inside her and she let loose.

"You idiot! I can't believe you've just thought of that now. Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Gourry just shrugged.

"You never asked me." Was his simple response as he continued eating his meal.

"I didn't think I had to ask you considering I told you we were going to Seyruun! You know what? It doesn't matter. Do you think your aunt would let us stay there for awhile and keep us hidden? It would be better than living on the streets."

"I think she would be fine with that. I've not seen her for awhile either and so I don't think she would mind me dropping in."

"Excellent, now c'mon, they're getting back on the bus."

Gourry nodded and quickly finished his meal and went back on the bus with Lina. This time as the bus continued on through the night, the both of them slept. Using each other as rests they leaned against each other as they slept.


	16. Chapter 16

They arrived the next day, after having a good rest overnight and were dropped off on the outskirts of Seyruun. Knowing the police would be looking for a short brown haired girl and a tall blonde man, they realised that they would have to disguise themselves somehow. Passing a fancy dress shop, Lina came upon an idea and dragged Gourry into the store, not knowing what was about to occur.

"Lina! I am not going out like this?"

"Oh stop being so dull. You don't want us to get caught do ya? This is the best idea I have and unless you can come up with something better, you can just shut it and get on with it."

"But Lina…"

"Shut up and stop calling me Lina! I'm Leo!"

Lina tucked her hair up and placed the baseball cap on her head. She then started chewing on some gum and placed her hands in the pockets of her newly acquired jeans. She was disguising herself as a boy, what with being short and underdeveloped. The latter was the comment made by Gourry which earned him a fist to the top of his head.

"This is really uncomfortable…" Gourry grumbled as he stepped out from the changing room.

Lina grinned and ran over to him, clutching his arm tightly.

"Oh big sis! Look at how beautiful you are!" Lina said a little too sweetly.

Gourry just gave a disgusted look and then reached up to fix the bra with the fake breasts. He shuffled them about to try and get more comfortable which only succeeded in shifting their position which Lina then had to fix. She then took Gourry's hair and brushed it, and fixed them into pigtails. Gourry was now looking more like a woman, with the lipstick, fake eyelashes and cute pink dress that was long to hide his manly legs, but the boots helped a little with that. Lina was wearing a baggy shirt with jeans, trainers and a baseball cap.

"Right, let's go Lola!" Lina said enthusiastically, tugging on Gourry's arm.

"My aunt is never gonna let me live this down." Gourry sighed.

"Gourry!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Aunty Melly!" Gourry replied and hugged his aunt, knocking his fake breasts out to his sides.

Lina blinked and followed Gourry into the house. Then took the cap off her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

"And this must be your 'partner-in-crime'. Nice to meet you, Ms?"

"Lina" She replied a little shyly.

"Ahh."

"You do realise we didn't do anything Aunty" Gourry stated as he pulled away.

"Of course I do, I know you wouldn't have done anything of the sort. Stealing and such!"

Gourry frowned slightly and looked to Lina.

"Umm, well the stealing thing is true. Except we didn't take the stone, and we didn't kill those guys either. We just took the book and the sword, and knocked the men out so we could escape."

"Why did you take those things then?" Melly replied.

Lina and Gourry sat down in main room and began to explain the whole situation and why they had decided to come to Seyruun.

"So you see. We really need to try and get to Old Seyruun and search those old libraries." Lina finished.

"I see. Well I have to admit it sounds pretty far-fetched but I think with the situation you are in; you have nothing to lose really. It does seem very coincidental that Gourry is good with swords and possibly in a past life he was a swordsman. I don't think I could help you get into the old libraries and not get caught, but you're welcome to stay here and my neighbours all know you're innocent so you won't have trouble around here."

"Thanks!" Lina replied happily.

Later that day, the moment the sun set, Lina and Gourry had decided it was now the time to try and get to the old libraries. They were in their own clothes, much to the delight of Gourry who couldn't wait to remove that uncomfortable bra. They kept to the dark alleys and out of the light, using those alleys to hide in whenever a police patrol drove by.  
They then reached the wall which marked the edge of Old Seyruun. Looking back and forth they checked that the area was clear, and then Gourry helped Lina up on top of the wall. Then Gourry stepped back a few paces and took a run up, his first couple of steps he used to run up the wall, and then with his momentum, he leapt and grabbed the edge of the wall, pulling himself up.

Now next to Lina they both took a quick view of the area. Luckily there were not that many guards as they had originally anticipated. However there were still a few about patrolling the area so the still had to be discreet. Lina pointed out where the old libraries were which meant crossing the courtyard. Gourry nodded a little and then leapt down silently. He then helped Lina down and they both slid stealthily alongside a building till they reached the edge of the courtyard.

They both watched carefully the movements the guards made and worked out when the best time to run across the courtyard would be. They worked it out to the second at which point Lina made a dash for it. Gourry looked on anxiously, hoping the guard wouldn't turn early and catch Lina bit thankfully he didn't and Lina made it safely to the shadows of another building.

It was Gourry's turn to wait this time, so he sat there patiently until the right moment came. When it did, he sprinted quickly but as quietly as possible too. He could see Lina now looking warily to the guard, and she bit her lip when she thought he was about to turn. He stopped for a moment only to bend down and take a look at something on the ground. Gourry made it to the shadows before the guard turned.

They then had free access to the library with no worries of anymore guards, at least outside the building. They entered the library through the main door since they left all the places unlocked. They were a lot more wary of security cameras this time but a quick look about showed that they hadn't decided to use them.

They used the shadows to sneak around the libraries carefully but further investigation found that they didn't have to sneak around because not only were there no security cameras, but there were no guards either. It seemed that they were only patrolling the outside and really not as worried about people sneaking into the grounds as they had originally anticipated.

Gourry stood up and scratched his head, looking towards Lina.

"Hey Lina? Don't you think it's a little weird that there isn't really anyone guarding this place?"

Lina just shrugged in reaction.

"Does it matter? It just makes our job easier."

"It doesn't seem right though."

"Do you want us to get into trouble?" Lina spat a little angrily.

"Fine then…" Gourry gave up.

They then both walked through the rows of shelves all containing books. They looked through the first few rows but they all seemed to contain irrelevant books about geography or history. Some were just novels of adventuring and romance. After getting bored of that Lina decided to try and find a quicker way.

"Hey Gourry, you check upstairs and just see if you can find anything on magic. Ok? Anything you find, bring it down here. I'll just keep checking the rest of this floor. It'll take forever otherwise."

Gourry nodded and headed off to the old wooden stairway. He walked up it cautiously, worrying that it might break off at any point. He then reached the upper floor and looked around slowly. Suddenly being alone in the dark in an old place had him feeling a little worried. He just hoped ghosts weren't real!

Meanwhile, Lina skipped a few rows because they all seemed to be the same thing. So she moved on and headed to the other side of the room. Then moving back through the rows, she suddenly felt as though she had struck gold. Each of the spines all had something to do with magic, whether it was the introduction of magic, or the history of magic. She began gathering them together and placed them on a large table on the middle of the room. She smirked thinking Gourry was going to still be looking upstairs, but at least it would keep him out of her hair.

Gourry kept searching but he couldn't seem to find anything with magic in it. He was growing bored and so just strolled about the place until he came across a small book which had no title. He took the book and moved to a small table and sat down to take a look.

Lina was growing more and more frustrated as she went through the piles of books and found nothing on actually casting spells. They just seemed to describe all of the properties of the spells or the reasoning behind them. All the books on the history talked about how the spells came about. She started throwing the age old books to the ground in frustration, not caring that they were nearly falling apart at the seams.

Gourry opened the front cover of the book and read the inscription on the inside.

"To anyone who has the evilness inside to read the private thoughts of a woman, let it be known that justice will strike you down and you will pay for all of the other evil deeds that you have done."

Blinking a little, Gourry wondered if he should start reading through this thing or not. However he figured that this woman must long be gone and so it would probably be ok because whatever was private would be able to embarrass that person anymore. He skipped through the first few pages and found that it was written by a girl of about 15. Infact she was a princess and lost her mother at a young age. He then began reading how she started to learn magic and began explaining how she went about doing it. He realised what he had in his hand and ran back down the stairs to Lina.

"Hey! Lina! Look what I got! You have to read it!"

He handed the book to the now seriously pissed off Lina, who snatched the book from Gourry and read the inside cover.

"What kind of a freak is this woman?"

"Huh? Oh! Forget that, keep reading on."

Lina did so after shaking her head and slowly her eyes began to widen as she got to the pages talking about learning magic.

"Gourry! This is it!"

At which point, she leapt out of the chair and hugged Gourry tightly.

"My, it's taken you two long enough to work out your feelings for each other."

Lina and Gourry suddenly turned towards the voice which shook them into reality, both thinking they had been caught. They were only greeted by a strange looking man in some weird clothes. He had purple hair which almost covered his eyes and looked like someone had planted a bowl on his head and cut around the edge. He had a staff with a strange red stone on the top and was wearing a really freaky smile.

"Who are you?" Lina and Gourry managed to say simultaneously.

"My, Ms Lina, Mr Gourry. I'm hurt that you don't even remember your old friend. Although I do admit it was a very long time ago since we last met. Maybe I should remind you then. I am Xellos."


	17. Chapter 17

"Sorry, not a clue!" Gourry replied, after scratching his chin and appearing to be deep in thought.

"I don't know you either, but I'm really interested to know how you know who we are?" Lina asked.

Xellos' smile widened slightly as his eyes just barely opened, just below his purple bangs.

"Well, because you're here searching these old dusty libraries, I'm assuming you two now realise you have past lives. Let's just say, I became acquainted with the two of you during those past lives." He replied.

"Hang on a second. So you're saying you now remember your past life?" Lina spluttered out.

"Nice try Ms Lina, but that isn't exactly correct. You see, to have a past life I have to die first, and well, that has yet to happen."

Lina and Gourry stepped back sharply and let out a gasp in surprise.

"Y...you're pretty good looking for an old guy!" Gourry let out.

"Now now…please." Xellos waved a hand at the two. "I'd let you know the reasoning but, it's a secret."

For some reason, the phrase made Lina really angry and she wanted to lunge at the weird man, but she resisted the urge and noticed a book he had under his arm.

"So why are you here? What's the book you have?" Lina asked inquisitively.

Xellos blinked in surprise and looked down at the book held under his arm.

"Ahh. This! This is just some old book that I needed to help me work out how to use a special little item."

At that point, Xellos held out his closed hand, and opened it slowly to reveal a stone. Lina's eyes widened in surprise whilst Gourry looked on in bemusement, wondering why he would be walking around with some crummy rock.

"You're the other guy who was at the museum. You killed all those men and made it seem like we had done it all!"

"I see you've lost none of your intelligence Ms Lina. I guess that means Mr Gourry hasn't been able to improve his, but at least he can't get any worse."

Gourry didn't seem to notice the negative comment thrown towards him.

"Why did you kill them?" Gourry asked.

"Well I had to distract attention from myself, and well, you two were the perfect people to do so. I'm sure you're used to being chased around although nowadays it might be a little tougher considering all the new technology the humans have developed. Such fascinating creatures they are. They never fail to amaze me."

Whilst Xellos was talking, Lina gave a slight look to Gourry who had already taken that as the sign to attack. He waited for the right moment and then when he knew this weird guy would be least expecting it, he withdrew the sword, and attacked with lightning quick speed. He cut true and deep through the man, knowing he hit him well. He stopped to a halt and turned to see the guy still standing. He turned his head slowly towards Gourry, and smiled calmly.

"Excellent swordsmanship Mr Gourry. However such a simple sword will do me no harm. I do see that you have regained the Sword of Light though. I suggest you learn how to use it correctly because you'll need it to survive the events which lie ahead."

He then turned his head back to Lina.

"And you should learn how to use your magic again. I see you found Ms Amelia's old diary. I couldn't get past the first few pages though. All the positive emotions just leaked from the pages and made me sick."

Lina stepped forward with determination. She wasn't sure what was going on and she was a little frightened by what she had seen. She had just watched Gourry cut right through this guy and it didn't even bother him. And now he was talking about all these things. He must know a lot about them, but there was so much she didn't know about him. She wanted to find out right now.

"What events are you talking about?"

"Ms Lina…That is a secret!"

He then disappeared into thin air just as Lina charged forward with her hands outstretched, ready to throttle the guy. She missed though when he disappeared and stumbled, almost falling if it wasn't for Gourry to stop her from hitting the ground

"Who do you think that guy was Lina? He's not normal for sure but I don't like how he knows so much about us."

"I don't know Gourry, but I have a feeling this Amelia has wrote something about him in this book."

They later returned to Melly's house who had dinner ready and waiting for them. They gladly tucked into the mammoth meal and little discussion was made. Afterwards they went to their rooms where Lina got straight to business in reading the diary. She read through the pages of the diary, learning more and more things about the past of this person.

She could understand why people hadn't read through this diary though, considering they would have taken the book as nothing more than someone's life rather than actual information that would be considered important.

She continued reading and was amazed to find that this woman had come across her in this past life. She read on and learnt about the adventures she had been involved in with Gourry and some strange person named Zelgadis who was cursed as a chimera. She found herself lost in the thoughts of this woman, and couldn't really believe the kind of life she had lead in the past.

She found herself embarrassed by all the references made by Amelia about a relationship with Gourry. At first she couldn't even see herself with him, considering his total stupidity. However she was beginning to realise that there were things about Gourry that she admired. Her dreams and feelings were telling her this but she figured there were more important things to learn about at that point, such as magic.

She flicked to the next page when suddenly several scraps of paper folded up, fell out of the diary. Lina blinked and placed the diary down and picked up the scraps of paper. She unfolded them slowly and read the writing on it. Slowly her lips curled into a smile and the next second she had her hand held out with her eyes closed.

"Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let thy power gather in my hand! Lighting!"

Suddenly in her hand, an orb of bright light shone with such intensity that even with her closed eyes, she could tell the intensity was so blinding it would be painful to look at with open eyes. She then let her concentration go and the orb of light disappeared. Immediately Lina opened her eyes and she grinned in excitement.

"Yes!" She yelled, whilst she thrust a fist in the air.

She grabbed the scrap pieces of paper again and read through them quickly, looking at what she would try next. She then set the paper back down, and set herself in position.

"Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright. Flare Arrow!"

Her arms were set in the position much like an archer, and there in her hands waiting was an arrow made entirely of flame. She blinked in surprise, and reaction made her let go, thinking she was going to be burned. The arrow shot out of her hands and collided with the curtains, promptly setting them alight.

"Oops…Uhhh."

She set her hands in position quickly and concentrated as quickly as possible.

"Freeze Arrow!" She yelled.

At first she mumbled, realising she had forgotten the initial incantation. However when she looked down, there in her hands much like the Flare Arrow was an arrow, but now made of ice. She realised from the notes that with significant power, simple spells no longer required incantations. She aimed it to the burning curtains and fired it off. The ice quickly enveloped the flames and turned the curtains into a soaking wet mass of burnt cloth. She blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm sure Melly won't mind!"

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Lina and Gourry both in separate rooms had decided to now get some rest considering it was already pretty late. They both drifted to sleep, but they wouldn't be left with any dreamless sleep as it seemed their past lives decided to invade their minds once more.

Gourry looked around in confusion at first, wondering where he was. In his hand he was holding a sword, but the blade was made of light. He looked up and realised that he was in a serious situation. He looked to Lina who was staring at a young boy. Some kid called Phibrizzo who apparently was found dead in a street. Obviously he wasn't dead though and he just destroyed another guy called Gaav pretty easily, who moments before he struggled to fight with.

The next thing he knew, the kid was concentrating on him and the sword which originally was made of bright light, now changed into a mass of black tentacles which quickly wrapped around him. He found himself wanting to reach out to Lina, suddenly worried for her, but the tentacles wouldn't let him go. He could see Lina looking towards him, just as worried. The next thing he knew he was being lifted away and watched helplessly as Lina gave chase.

He opened his eyes wide and sat up from the bed sharply. He raised his hands and began frantically brushing away at the tentacles he thought were still there. His breathing had quickened as he felt panic, but after a few moments, he convinced himself that it was all a dream. He looked to the sword lying beside the bed and recognised it as the same sword in his dream, the one made of light.

He picked it up and examined it closely, noticing that strange pin once more. He removed it and took the sword out, showing it bladeless. He wondered why it was made of light in his dream but not now. He closed his eyes and tried to work out why, but suddenly he found the words coming about in his mind. It was like something long lost in his mind that was now resurfacing.

He opened his eyes and looked straight at the hilt of the sword.

"Light come forth!"

Suddenly a light appeared from the hilt of the sword and rose up in the shape of a blade. He blinked slowly and watched the blade pulse. The blade started to fade and he panicked slightly, wondering why it was happening. He found himself willing the blade to become bright again, and the second he felt that will, the blade shone brighter than ever.

He sat up in surprise and lost his concentration which caused the blade to disappear. At that point there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

He watched the door handle turn and the door open to reveal a sleepy looking Lina.

"What's wrong Lina?"

"I had a bad dream."

"You too?"

Lina blinked and looked at Gourry closely as she sat down on the bed beside him.

"What did you dream about?"

"Oh, just some weird kid who turned my shining sword into tentacles which took me away from you. What about you?"

"The same…"

Gourry blinked, and then looked down at the ground.

"I don't know about you Lina, but this whole past life thing is freaking me out. It's like I'm just being dropped into a situation that I don't even know about."

"I kind of know what you mean. However that diary you found seems to explain things a bit more."

At that point, Lina took out the diary of Amelia's and began to explain to Gourry all that they had been through in their past life, looking down at the ground. When she finished, she placed the book down and looked back to Gourry.

"It doesn't have everything we have done, but it seems to explain a lot. And judging from this Xellos character, it seems we have some unfinished business. I think there is a reason we came back. There's something that was left unfinished and someone or something has brought us back to finish it off. You realise Gourry that you have the Sword of Light there, which was taken away and given back to Dark Star. It was returned for a reason. So that you could take possession of it again and use it."

"What are you talking about? All of this stuff happened ages ago. The world has changed and it's completely different. What makes you think that any of this stuff is still around? Like those mazoku and dark lords."

"Well Xellos is proof enough for a start. But Gourry, remember what happened before I died! The dark lords were planning something up to bring about the destruction of the world. If we didn't stop them, then something must have stopped them or at least held them off, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now. Something must have held it off till now and we've been brought back to make sure they don't finish their plan."

Gourry stared at Lina blankly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lina fell off the bed and groaned loudly. She then sat back up and rubbed her head which was suddenly developing pain.

"You know what? It doesn't matter. Let's just say we were brought back for a reason which we don't know yet."

"Ok!" Gourry replied with a grin.

"And I bet that jerk knows the reason why." She mumbled so Gourry wouldn't hear.

At that point, Lina blushed as she found Gourry's hand resting on her own which was on her thigh. She turned her head immediately to look at Gourry.

"All I know is that I'm glad we were brought back. I meant it when I said I couldn't live without you."

"Huh?"


	18. Chapter 18

Gourry held on tightly to her lifeless body in the bed. Tears streaming down his face as he buried it against her neck. He rocked back and forth sobbing relentlessly as he felt his entire world crumbling around him. He had failed her. He was meant to be her protector and do everything he could to keep her alive and he failed. But more importantly, he knew how much Lina meant to him and how much he cared about her.

He pulled away from her slowly and looked at her pale face as he felt that he could no longer produce anymore tears despite feeling like he could still cry.

"I…I know it's too late to say this. But I love you Lina. I will always love you, in this life, and the next, and so on. So you see. I can't live without you. My life before I met you was meaningless. You know, I was going to throw the Sword of Light away…"

He sat there in silence with Lina in his arms, staring out the window which was allowing in the morning sun. His tears dried against his cheeks and his face slowly hardened into resolve.

"I'm going to get revenge for you Lina…even if it costs me my life. At least then, I'll have a chance of being with you again."

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He patted the earth down and then knelt beside the grave that he just buried the brown-haired sorceress in. He placed a cross at the head of the grave and hung one of her earrings on the cross, the other earring he placed in his pocket.

"I know who was behind this, Gourry-san. I will lead you to that person, but it's a one way trip."

Xellos had phased in behind the swordsman who was still knelt by the grave, and preparing himself to go.

"Take me; I don't care what happens to me now. I just know that I'm gonna fight with everything I have against those who did this to her. I know that at least fighting with all that I have, I'll give some sort of revenge back to her. It's the least I can do. I'm not gonna pretend everything is ok, and then live my life as though nothing happened!"

Xellos nodded slowly, his usual smirk was not there as he realised that now was not the time for such a thing. His eyes were still closed and his lips straight in seriousness.

"Who did this Xellos?"

"It doesn't matter, right? Whoever it is, you're still gonna go and kill them."

Gourry stood up slowly and turned to face Xellos. His eyes were no longer bright like they use to be. They were narrow and cold, almost as though they belonged to another person. He stared straight at Xellos and brought the sword up to his neck with one swift motion. It surprised Xellos who reacted with opening his eyes slightly.

"You know that I can kill you with this sword, or at least hurt you really badly. In that time you could kill me, but I don't care anymore. However for you…well…you would be at the mercy of anyone else if you were badly injured. Now tell me which one of you caused the death of Lina…"

Xellos gulped slightly and then nodded very carefully. Gourry brought his sword down at that point which allowed Xellos to fix himself slightly. He then looked up to Gourry with a serious look of his own.

"Dynast. He's been out for you since you injured him badly with your sword."

"So why didn't he come for me? Why did he kill Lina!"

"Honestly? She was caught in the crossfire. That dart was meant for you, but well, sometimes mazoku don't always do as they're asked."

Gourry looked down slowly, clenching his hands tightly around the hilt of the sword.

"Take me to him."

"Very well."

Xellos then took a hold of Gourry's arm and phased out, taking the swordsman with him. They then reappeared in a large dining hall of a temple belonging to Dynast. At least that was what Gourry assumed.

"So where is he Xellos? Don't mess about wit…"

In mid sentence a shot was fired through Gourry's chest. He looked down and watched the blood pouring out from his chest. He collapsed to his knees and brought a hand to his chest, not feeling any pain. His entire body just felt numb.

"You…backstabbing…"

"Now now Gourry-san. I'm doing exactly what you have asked of me. I am taking you to Dynast, but just not in the way you were thinking of. This way is going to have to take a little more time. I just pray for you that you'll meet with Lina again along the way."

Gourry didn't really understand what Xellos had meant, but even if he had made it clearer, he probably wouldn't have took it in, as his mind already began to cloud over. The rest of his body now collapsed to the floor. He reached down to his pocket and pulled out the earring and brought it up into view on the floor.

"I…I'm s…sorry, Li…Lin…Lina…"

His view then turned to darkness as he passed away.

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"Gourry? Are you even listening?"

Gourry felt a smack on the back of his head, and blinked a little, looking at Lina who was looking back at him and was pretty pissed off.

"What did you say?"

"Dammit, I knew you weren't listening. You were probably thinking about stupid useless things. Your brain is like a jellyfish, floating aimlessly in the sea! I asked what you meant about not being able to live without me."

"I said that?"

"YES YOU IDIOT!"

"Oh, I guess I did then."

"Well what did you mean by it."

"I dunno. I guess I can't remember."

Gourry smiled and rubbed the back of his head. Lina just let out a shriek of frustration before storming off back to her room. Gourry's look then turned to a serious one as he thought again about the things he just remembered at that moment. This Xellos character was a strange one, and he wanted to know what he was up to. But in the mean time, he needed to try and get back to sleep and work out what they were going to do in the morning.


End file.
